For the 1st time in my 32 years, I have poison ivy. I hopped on the internet (thanks Jeeves) to search for remedies. I found many responses on Bulletin Boards for home remedies. Being a stubborn bastard...I decided to try everything I could to get rid of it before resorting to a doctor. I used bleach, dishwashing detergent, cortizone, caladryl, benadryl, ru thox (a poison ivy sugar pill), hairspray, hot water, cold water, my fingernails, and brake cleaner.

As I said before, I'm stubborn, but yesterday decided to go to the local MD. He gave me Prednizone (steriod) and a strong anti-itch cream. After taking two pills (the script is for 9 days) and using the anti-itch cream, I was dramatically better in just 8 hours. Too bad I didn't go to the doc 7 days ago when this started.

I just wanted to post and let ya'll know if you get this stuff, go to the doctor...It's not worth the suffering to try to fix it yourself.

Just curious, anyone else out there have any poison stories???

minorly irritated...

shakesthecat

06-08-2001, 09:19 AM

Damn, I was hoping this thread was going to be about the steamy flik starring Alissa Milano. Mmmmmmm!

But since it's not, I'll second ExtremeChiefs comments.
Don't suffer, go see the doc. That stuff works great.

Cormac

06-08-2001, 09:26 AM

Thanks for the tip Extreme. I worked clearing overgrown property in KC one summer, and got a dose of poison ivy. I eventually cleared it with Ivarest (a caladryl concoction), and it took weeks! Whatever about the PI though, the chiggers were worse :eek:

Mark M

06-08-2001, 10:01 AM

Extreme--
I can be downwind from poison ivy and catch it! I've had it so bad that my eyes welled shut on a number of occasions (most recently about 2 months ago).

ALWAYS go see a doctor. If you don't and you're scratching it and a wound opens up you can get a staph infection (happened to my sister. She was bed ridden for a month).

And you MUST finish all of the prednizone ... sometimes, if you don't, your body can freak out a bit (i.e. insomnia, excitability, etc.). Home remedies are usually total bunk. Go to the Dr. and use Caladryl or similar creams.

I say all of this from experience.

MM
~~Doesn't remember a summer where he didn't get poison ivy.

redhed

06-08-2001, 11:45 AM

I've never had poison ivy, and I'm out in the woods a lot. I used to be able to pick some and rub it on my arm (haven't tried that in a few years), but I've heard that just because you've never had it doesn't mean you can't ever get it. I always thought I was immune, but who knows now?
Extreme, are you in the woods a lot?

I'm gonna have to see if I'm still immune...

keg in kc

06-08-2001, 11:47 AM

I was immune until last year, although we're still not sure if it was poison ivy or a reaction to something else. Either way, I didn't go to a doctor and it cleared up on its own after a week or two (was only on my arms anyway...).

JOhn

06-08-2001, 11:53 AM

:D

no poison ivy here, but got a dislocated left shoulder :(

did it at work yesterday, dumb me thinks "no biggy, it's just swollen, and when swelling goes down, I'll be able to move it"

Bob Dole is one of the lucky people who can roll around in the stuff and not get itchy. (Knocking on wooden head...)

Bob Dole's ex, however, was like Mark. You could say "poison ivy" and she'd shriek and start scratching almost immediately. One spring, Bob Dole was clearing off the lot next to our house and burned some of the brush. Apparently there was poison ivy in the mix, and she inhaled the smoke and got poison ivy in her d@mned lungs. Talk about a mess.

Now that Bob Dole thinks about it, perhaps Bob Dole needs to take a trip to St. Louis and burn some poison ivy upwind of the B...

keg in kc

06-08-2001, 12:17 PM

Speaking of doctors, I haven't been to one in over 9 years.

I'll be going to one at some point this fall for my millennial checkup, in all likelihood, when I'll probably find out I've got every form of disease and cancer known to mankind. Oh, and I'm fat too, which is why. My fat forms into tumors, actually - it's kind of gross, and I have about 100 of them, but I've had them for about 14 years so they've been diagnosed. Too hard to remove, sadly, so I'm stuck with them...

I absolutely hate! doctors!!

Probably because a great deal of the first two years of my life was spent in hospitals. I had pneumonia seven times before my second birthday, and to this day white coats, needles and doctor's office environments send me into the fetal position.

I feel sick now. That's how bad I am with doctors...

ExtremeChief

06-08-2001, 01:17 PM

Redhed,

Grew up on a farm, am now an avid golfer and paintballer. I'm in the woods all the time. It's just one of those freak deals. Now I'll have to watch out for it, or just forget about those errant golf balls. Have to wear gloves paintballing too.

Mark,

Prednizone boosts the body's immune system , but it also halts the body from producing cortizone...that's why it is taken in a decreasing dosage...if you stop immediately, sometimes your body doesn't start producing cortizone again...or thats how it was explained to me anyway.

As far as I know, NOONE is immune to poison...your sensitivities change over the years, my father has never had it, he's 67, my grandmother didn't get it until she was over 40. I also had scratches on my legs from the pups, and thats where it looks like the poison originated. Maybe if I didn't have those scratches, I wouldn't have gotten it.

who knows...

KUChief

06-08-2001, 03:19 PM

Extreme,

I used to get the "dreaded" poison ivy very bad when I was young and had to go to the doctor every time that I got it. One day a pharmacist friend of mine told me about a product called tecnu http://www.teclabsinc.com/

It is not a cure for poison ivy or poison oak, but it does work if you are exposed to it, removing the poison ivy or oak oil from your skin before it gets into your blood stream. Since then I haven't had more than 1 or 2 small blisters when exposed and mostly nothing. It is supposed to be standard issue for forest rangers.

ExtremeChief

06-08-2001, 03:32 PM

Tecnu supposedly works really well if you catch it in time...but the urishol absorbs into the skin within 15 minutes, so you have to know you've been in it.

There is some "miracle" cure I saw on the internet called Zanfel, supposedly provides relief within 5 minutes and clears the rash up completely within a couple days. Costs 40 bucks for a tube, it's in some pharmacies...not my local one though. The website I found it on has a lot of "testimonials" as to how well it works...but I found some saying it didn't work for them. I guess our bodies are all different, there isn't one single thing that works for everyone, except to stay out of it.